The car we know as the Pontiac G8, you probably already know is a twin of one of GM's Australian bread and butter cars, the Holden Commodore. They've got all sort of variations of it over there – El-Camino style sport trucks (yes Jalopnik, we know), station wagons, AWD models, long wheelbase luxury versions, and yes, in-house specially-tuned high-performance professional ass kickers. We'll be getting one of the latter category of INSTHPPAK models as the Pontiac G8 GXP with a 400 horsepower 6.2 liter V8 out of the Corvette. But that's not enough if you're properly power hungry. Holden's HSV tuning folks presented the 7.0 liter (they call it a 427, because they are that badass) LS7 powered murderer version of the Commodore. Not only that, but in the ultimate act of hilariosity, the HSV W427 model as it's called will be available in the stretched luxury car called the Statesman. Like the Corvette Z06, the Holden W427 will have a hair over 500 horses and 472 lb ft of torque. Holden is building only 427 examples of the car, and they cost $150,000 AUD. That makes it 3.5 times the cost of a V6 Commodore (which is the $27,000 G8 V6 in America), but about the same price as BMW M3 in Australia. Still a hell of a bundle of cash. [Source: Holden ]
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I’m confused. They’re offering a 427 Commodore, a 427 Statesman, or both?
meh. I’ll get excited if GM actually makes an attractive car to wrap around that engine, but as of yet I don’t see that happening.
Isn’t GM going to sell the CTS-V over in AU? If so, why this?
This is the car Cadillac should have made eight years ago when it would have had a chance of saving GM. A $94k Pontiac? Is “Holden W427” how they pronounce “Phaeton” in Flint?
@Michael Karesh:
It’s a W427 model, and from the photos appears to be available as either a Commodore or Statesman. Not sure how they are splitting the 427 up among those two bodystyles though.
it’s so badass they did the photoshoot ON THE MOON?
The Asstralians have really outdone themselves!
and hey, no 427 Ute no care.
In the Aussie market this car actually costs less than M3.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit I highly recommend it. It’s a gorgeous country, full of friendly people, exceptional beer and the roads are filled with RWD muscle cars from GM and Ford instead of fat, silly, supersize SUVs.
It’s quite close to paradise.
Ugliest wheels ever.
So, the 427 Statesman is kind of like the ’66 Chevy Caprice I saw two weeks ago with an L72 (425-hp 427) and four-speed, huh? That appeals to my sense of the perverse.
The saddest part about this (and the most telling if GM tracks TTAC) is that this news rated a grand total of nine comments on a Friday.
@Detroit Iron:
And one of them was mine. It is sad, isn’t it? It’s too bad; I love this line of cars.
Car prices in Oz are ridiculous. I saw an ad for a Chrysler 300 that ran somewhere around 58 grand? Even the Yaris goes for something like 17k. Their sales tax is ten percent and I think that’s included, but still.
I think the horsepower war will soon be over. I only wonder if car companies in the States will scale back their HP once CAFE kicks in, or if we’re too used to